Mid-Cape

Next time you're feeling sorry for yourself, think about one of Yarmouth's founding fathers, Anthony Thatcher. Here was a man who lost everything, only to rebuild his life over again and again, and in the process helped to build a town. Before leaving England he lost his first wife and five of his nine children. Remarried, he and his wife and his four remaining children set sail for the New World in 1635. Though they arrived without mishap, a subsequent boat ride from Ipswich to Marblehead ended in the loss of his four children. Of all those on board only he and his wife survived. With everything lost, the Thatchers arrived at Yarmouth in 1639 to found that town along with Thomas Howes and John Crow. John Thatcher, Anthony Thatcher's son, born in 1638 at Ipswich, would father 21 children to help populate the new township; his house is directly across the street from the Yarmouthport Post Office on Mass. Rt. 6A.

The lands of Yarmouth had long been settled by Indians of the Mattakeese and Nobscusset tribes before Pilgrim Stephen Hopkins came south from Plymouth to build a house here in 1638. The new town, which was most likely named for Great Yarmouth in England, was originally a huge area encompassing the present towns of Yarmouth and Dennis. With its salt marshes, thick woodlands, and rich soil, the north side was settled first. Lands were quickly acquired from the Indians and a sturdy community began to grow. The Indians found themselves being boxed in and areas were set aside for them at Long Pond, Scargo Lake, and along Bass River and Parker River. Burial grounds at Long Pond and Scargo Lake are marked with plaques; the one at Long Pond reads: "On this slope lie buried the last native Indians of Yarmouth."

Yarmouth was a farming community in the 18th century and was renowned later for its maritime activity until the locomotives came to Cape Cod and the age of steam eclipsed the age of sail. Many ships from Yarmouth were engaged in the Indo-China trade. Secum and Taylor shipbuilders built the legendary Red Jacket, which made a record transatlantic crossing in 13 days.

Saltworks and cordage works sprung up on the Bass River. Settled by a Quaker named David Kelly, South Yarmouth became known as Quaker Village or Friends Village, and townsfolk erected a meetinghouse there around 1809. Though other towns were less tolerant of Quakers, Yarmouth eventually accepted the "heretics," and their settlement played a large part in the development of the town. As early as 1721, an east parish of the Yarmouth Congregational church was established in the area now known as Dennis. In 1793 this east parish, all of Yarmouth east of the Bass River, separated from the town to become the town of Dennis.

Yarmouth is an architectural historian's dream, for it has two historic districts comprising 650 buildings, many of which are on the National Register of Historic Places. The age of the area and the sophistication of its residents are reflected in its varied architectural styles: Federal, Gothic, Greek Revival, and Victorian. Of course, the traditional Cape house--full Cape, half-Cape, and three-quarters Cape--is well represented along the historic routes.

A final note on Yarmouth: it seems it also has a chapter in the Norse sagas. As the tale goes, Leif Ericson's brother Thorvald visited these shores at the beginning of the 11th century and met up with Indians at Bass Hole in the northern part of Yarmouth. In a battle with the Indians, Thorvald was killed and buried at the beach. Thorvald's grave has never been found.

To understand the early history of the town of Dennis you must first study the history of Yarmouth, for Dennis was settled as part of Yarmouth in 1639. Of Old Yarmouth's three earliest settlers, Anthony Thatcher, Thomas Howes, and John Crow, two of the three--Howes and Crow--settled in what would later become Dennis. In 1721 the east parish of Yarmouth was established in the area now known as Dennis Village and four years later a minister came to this east precinct of Yarmouth to become the church's preacher. That young minister was Rev. Josiah Dennis, a Harvard graduate who was born in Northern Ireland and arrived in Massachusetts around the year 1700 at the age of seven. Josiah Dennis would preach at the east church until his death in 1763. His successor, Nathan Stone, was the minister at the time of the separation from Yarmouth and the town's incorporation in 1793. It was suggested that the new township be named Dennis in honor of its first minister, rather than Nobscusset for the Indians of the area. Coincidentally, the last Nobscusset Indian died in 1793, the year of incorporation.

Many of the early residents had been farmers in England and were attracted to the area by the abundance of salt-marsh hay for their cattle. Early settlers practiced shore whaling and utilized "drift whales" that floated ashore. As whale oil became more valuable, whales were more methodically pursued. Watch houses were built at Sesuit and Nobscusset harbors to provide an alert when the great creatures were in the bay. Long boats were sent out, and the whales were herded into shallow water, where they became stranded. As whaling grew into an industry, harpooning, a skill developed in Scandinavia, was employed from boats offshore.

Around the time of the American Revolution, large-scale farming dropped off for lack of land, and many people moved to western Massachusetts. As the deepwater harbors of Nantucket and New Bedford began to dominate the whaling industry, Dennis turned to fishing, coastal trading, and shipbuilding. Fishing wharves lined the southern coastline, and Dennisport basked in the sweet aroma of fish drying on fish flakes. Some 400 shipmasters hailed from the town. Shiverick Shipyards in East Dennis produced eight magnificent clipper ships, all of which were recognized in the Golden Age of Sail. Mastered and crewed largely by Dennis men, these vessels helped to open up routes to the Orient and brought much fame and fortune to the town and its residents. Important as a fast means of transportation, particularly around Cape Horn during the California Gold Rush, these hardworking vessels were often in service for 25 to 30 years. A marker on Sesuit Road denotes the site of the shipyard.

Two major Cape industries, cranberry cultivation and saltworks, were both pioneered in Dennis. During the time the British were blockading American ports, the Continental Congress offered a reward to anyone who could invent an efficient means of producing salt. Capt. John Sears of East Dennis stepped forward in the latter quarter of the 18th century to invent and eventually patent a solar evaporation vat that actually distilled salt from seawater. Though the brunt of many a joke, his "odd" experiments worked, and a profitable industry grew from his backyard hobby. Very soon saltworks were everywhere, lining every available beachfront area around the Cape. Meanwhile, in 1816, Henry Hall of North Dennis observed that wild cranberries flourished in areas where sand blew over them. He replicated the conditions and is considered to be the first person to cultivate cranberries.